Mead Public Library (Sheboygan)

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2022

Format:	Book
Author:	Li, Grace D., author.
Title:	Portrait of a thief : a novel / Grace D. Li.
Publisher, Date:	New York : Tiny Reparations Books, [2022]
Copyright Date	©2022
Description:	375 pages ; 24 cm
Summary:	"Ocean's Eleven" meets "The Farewell" in this lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums, about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity. History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back. A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents' American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible -- and illegal -- job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. His crew is every heist archetype one can imagine -- or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a pre-med student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they've cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down. Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars -- and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they've dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted attempt to take back what colonialism has stolen. -- Provided by publisher.
Subjects:	Chinese Americans -- Fiction. Cultural property -- Fiction. Chinese diaspora -- Fiction. Art thefts -- Fiction. Art, Chinese -- Fiction. College students -- Fiction.
Genre:	Detective and mystery fiction. Fiction. Thrillers (Fiction) Novels. Detective and mystery fiction. Thrillers (Fiction) Novels. Romans.
LCCN:	2021050011
ISBN:	9780593184738 0593184734 * 9780593186077
Other Number:	1260820368
System Availability:	13
Current Holds:	0
Control Number:	2408573

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Author Biography

Grace D. Li grew up in Pearland, Texas, and is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied biology and creative writing. Her debut novel, Portrait of a Thief, was an instant New York Times bestseller, USA Today bestseller, and #1 international bestseller. She currently attends medical school at Stanford University. Say hi on social media @gracedli or sign up for updates at www.gracedli.com. - (Penguin Putnam)

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